Spoiler: Unless Google buys your company.

... after 4 years in the racket, this is my best advice for making millions in the App Store: build a game, a gimmick, or an app that has some sort of revenue outside a one-time purchase. Oh, and if it’s a game, make it “free-to-play”. You might be able to build a sustainable business selling useful apps, and carve out a decent living for yourself, but it’s almost impossible to make millions.

Via: @timoreilly

Ouch: "Sparrow did everything right. They built an incredible email app with broad appeal and released it into the hottest software market the world has ever seen. And yet it was a financial flop."

So yes, you have to sell your company to Google to make money. (Sparrow, Oink)

Or LinkedIn. (CardMunch)

Or PayPal. (card.io)

Or EA. (PopCap)

Or Zynga. (Draw Something, Words with Friends)

Or Twitter. (Tweetie, Tweetdeck)

Or Facebook. (Instagram, Beluga, Hot Potato)

Odds are stacked against you. There are a million apps. 12 of them got bought out.